Summary
During the summer, Lenny’s family goes to the Murree Hills in the foothills of the Himalayas where the temperatures are cooler. Adi is riding on a tall pony while Lenny is resentful to be on a donkey. On the way, news comes from the radio that the Second World War is over. The year is 1944. People scream, “We have won! Victory! The war is over!” Lenny sees that her father, mother, and everyone else around is happy, but she had secretly hoped that the Japanese would win like Subhas Chandra Bose had planned (as described in Chapter 4). Yet Lenny is also relieved: “I am swept by a sense of relief so unburdening that I realize I was born with an awareness of the war: and I recall the dim, faraway fear of bombs that tinged with bitterness my mother’s milk.”
The family quickly returns to Lahore, where the weather is 116 F even in the shade. The Parsees of the city are going to hold a prayer to celebrate the British victory. The family goes to the fire temple in a horse-led carriage called a tonga. The horse falls and everyone tumbles out, but they eventually make it to the temple. Priests are gathered around a fire altar chanting. This is a 1,000-year-old ritual. Lenny goes to kneel before the altar once the ritual is over. There is a marble step and beyond that an inner sanctum where only the priests who tend the fire can go. Colonel Bharucha is there for the prayer, and so are Godmother, Slavesister, Electricaunt, her cousin, a man from the Central Bank of India called Mr. Bankwalla, his “jolly wife,” and a man named Manek Mody who is Godmother’s brother-in-law. The Colonel tells her to put her heel down and try to walk normally. Godmother winks at Lenny and she thinks about how she sees a side of Godmother that no one else does. Her cousin wants to show her something. It’s a pressed butterfly but Lenny refuses to touch it, thinking “There are certain things I’ll hold and certain things I won’t” (a reference to touching the scar on her cousin’s genitals in Chapter 3).
Everyone moves into another room for speeches. Colonel Bharucha comes to the microphone and Lenny thinks about how much his way of speaking changes in these moments. The colonel quotes Gandhi saying that Indians should only buy salt taken from the Indian Ocean. The crowd is rowdy and some ask, “Who does this Gandhi think he is?” The Colonel explains that the British government is taxing salt unfairly so they should boycott it. Gandhi is going to walk a hundred miles to the ocean to make his point and is even willing to go to jail for this civil disobedience. Some in the crowd shout that this is meaningless. Others say that these “Congress gangsters” (referring to the Indian National Congress) are just trying to get famous from being imprisoned while enjoying free board and food.
The colonel admits that going to jail for a cause does give one “political glory,” but the real issue is no longer about Home Rule (Indians ruling themselves rather than being a British colony). The issue is the “struggle for power.” Once Home Rule (Swaraj) happens, who is going to have power in the country? The Colonel says that Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs are going to fight for this power. The best thing for Parsees is to not get in the middle. According to him, it is best to stay out of trouble. From the audience, Dr. Mody says that remaining uninvolved is impossible and will make them look like traitors. The Colonel replies that “No one knows which way the wind will blow.” There could be two or even three new nations formed. Parsees need to “look before they leap.”
The Colonel then tells a story about when Parsees were first kicked out of Persia 1,300 years before. They sailed to India but waited four days for permission to disembark. Finally, the Grand Vazir (the main advisor and right-hand-man of the Indian prince) came with a message. He held up “a glass of milk filled to the brim.” This meant “My land is full and prosperous and we don't want outsiders with a different religion and alien ways to disturb the harmony.” The Parsees answered this by stirring a teaspoon of sugar into the milk. The meaning was “The refugees would get absorbed into his country like the sugar in the milk… And with their decency and industry sweeten the lives of his subjects.” The Colonel tells this story as an example of Parsee cleverness and also a sign that one must “move with the times.”
Analysis
This chapter offers both political and religious context for the novel and its characters. India was affected by World War II, especially as the British began conscripting Indian soldiers to fight on the side of the Allies. Yet there were those who hoped Japan would win and help India gain its independence. For Lenny’s generation, she grew up always with an awareness of the war. Even though her loyalties are mixed, she is relieved that the war has ended.
The description of the prayer in the fire temple reveals elements of the Parsees’ religion, Zoroastrianism. The fire in the temple is meant to represent Ahura Mazda, the creator of the world and highest deity whose names mean “lord wisdom.” For Zoroastrians, fire is an agent of ritual purity and has an important part in their religious life. The fire in the temples is meant to never go out.
Even when talking about current political events, the Parsees in the novel draw on their long history. Parsees began to leave Persia (modern-day Iran) after it was conquered by Muslims in the 7th century (636-651). Between the 8th and 10th centuries, they left Persia to avoid religious persecution and eventually came to Gujarat in modern-day India. Despite roughly 1,300 years in the same lands, Parsees are still aware of their status as outsiders. Colonel Bharucha’s story about the way the Indian prince first rejected and then welcomed them both reveals the ingenuity of the Parsees and the precariousness of their position in society.
The discussion after the prayer reveals some of the intercommunal (the name for something occurring between two or more religious communities) tensions and violence that grew as India reached independence. At this point in history when World War II has just ended, it was unclear how many countries the former British colony of India would become and who would rule them. The largest communities at this time were Hindus and Muslims, followed by Sikhs. Because Parsees are a tiny minority, their goal was to keep their heads down and follow the rules of whoever gained power. During the Colonel’s speech, for example, someone shouts: “Let whoever wishes rule! Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian! We will abide by the rules of their land.” This sums up their view of politics.
We also see that the Parsees describe the other communities of India with stereotypes and also humor. One person in the crowd comments that if the Hindus gain power, they will rip off the Parsees. If the Muslims win, they will forcefully convert them. Someone else jokes: “Those who want four wives say aye! Those who want vegetarian bhats and farts say nay!” This is a reference to Muslims' marriage practices and Hindus' food, respectively. Another person has a more positive view of Muslims, reminding the crowd that the Muslim Mughal Empire that ruled India between the 16th and 19th centuries generally treated Parsees well. Someone else argues that if the Parsees have to leave again, they might as well go to London. Others joke that if the English king holds up a glass of full milk, there is no way they will accept “brown” sweetness—referring to racism among the British.
